Every student has had that moment where they feel disappointed at their grade. There are all sorts of ways to fix that feeling, whether it’s redoing the assignment, working for extra credit, or just doing better next time. But now University of Georgia students have a far easier way of improving their academic success: just change the grade.
According to Campus Reform’s Anthony Gockowski, Georgia business professor Dr. Richard Watson has a new stress reduction policy that gives students more academic freedom than they probably deserve.
Under Dr. Watson’s new policy, students can choose their own grades if they “feel unduly stressed.” They can also walk away from group projects if their group makes them feel stressed and receive a grade based only on non-group work.
https://twitter.com/PoliticalShort/status/894589130990137345
Sounds like heaven already, but there’s more. All of Watson’s exams are open book, open note, and open laptop. He also designs his tests to take “assess low level mastery of course material” and require only half of the allotted time to complete. Lastly, in-class presentations can receive only positive comments, with negative comments getting saved for emails later on.
So Watson basically wants to turn college degrees into participation trophies that cost six-figures, which must anger all the sports buffs who only believe in rewards for champions.
Watson admitted the stress reduction policy may “hinder the development of group skills and mastery of class material,” but hooray for individual responsibility! Hopefully they don’t come away thinking the Earth is flat like Kyrie-Irving-inspired middle schoolers.
